Improved journal-box



RUFUS-SIBLEY, OF GREENVILLE, CONNECTICUT.

' Leaf/rs Palmi No. 89,839, ma May 4,1869.

To all whom .fit 'may conce/m i Be if known that I, RUFUS SIBLEY, of Greenville, in the county of New London, and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improveu ments in Journal-Boxes, designed for mill-shafting,A

and other analogous purposes; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the drawing which by similar letters.

The object of these improve-ments is to provide what is termed a self-oiling7 journal-box, for the purposes mentioned, which shall be free from the serious defects ofthe various self-oilingboxes which have-been heretofore in use, and which shall be at all times a reliable and positive oiler.

Prior to my invention, a` great number of devices have been attempted to be employed as automaticoilers, for running shafting, but, so far as I am aware, none of them have been'practically successful.

One class of them has consisted of a metallic ring, or collar, attached to the shaft, and dipping, as the shaft turns,A in an oil-reservoir cast in the box; and this collar has sometimes been provided with awiper, of cotton,woollen,

. or other suitable material, which, as the shaft revolves,

wipes the oil ofi` of the collar, and4 spreads it upon the shaft. The defects of this apparatus were, that the centrifugal force of the revolving shaft would throw the oil off the collar, away from the shaft, and not on to it;

` and when the wiper was employed, the friction of the revolving colla-r against the wiper would soon wear the 4latter away, so that it lwould no longer come into suf-. 'ficient contact with the collar to take oi the cil successfully, and would, therefore, in a short time become practically inoperative A second device consisted of a small wheel, hung beneath the -shaft on journals, in such a manner that the under Asurface of the wheel would run in oil, contained in an oil-reservoir placed below it, whileitsupper surface would press against the under side of the shaft,

which, as it revolved, would give revolution to the wheel, and thereby bring'and apply to theshaft the oil takenv up by the latter. The objection to this was, that the wheel was liable, by slight obstructions, to be prevented from revolving, and when it ceased turning it wouldnot lubricate the bearing, and would soon injuriously wear the shaft. n

A third device was an endless chain, running over is illustrated in the drawings.

the shaft, and extending down and dipping into an oilchamber beneath, and which,when motion was imparted to it by the4 revolution of the shaft, would bring up the oil and spread it upon the'bearin g. This was objectionable, because it was in danger, as the shaft revolved, of being caught on it and being broken, so that it would cease to operate, and even when it did operate, it'rvould bring up on to the shaft the sediment and dirt of the oil.

Still another classf box was formed with recesses, cored through the bottomof it, and had a wick inserted through the recesses and reaching into an oil-chamber below, which, by capillary attraction, would draw up vthe oil and lubricate the journal. This method of oiling has been more extensively used than all others combined, but it has now,`like the others, been abandoned as worthless, itbeingvfound that the wick would soon become filled with sediment, and would grow hard and fail to bring up the oil,'and would also scratch and wear the shaftt v Y A patent has'recently been granted toRichard Oo burn and George W. Gould, for a journal-box, provided with a wick, inserted in a recess cast in the box beneath the journal, one end of which wick reaches down behind the journalintc oil contained inthe recess, while` the other end turns over upon and rests on the top of the shaft, and thereby-lubricates the latter. But this device is as uncertain in its operation as allother wickoilers, and all familiar with the subject are aware that many serious accidents andmuch damage have resulted from the use of oilers which are thus unreliable.

My improvedbox avoids allvthe mischiefs above mentioned, and will be found, in practical use, to be entirely certain in its performance, and to be extremely economical of oil, and to require very little care.

The form in which I prefer to embody my invention, The improvements in' it are, mainly, irst, a means o f taking up the oiland distributing it lupon the shaft, consisting of a collar, or

ring, preferably having a V-shaped, or inclined-sided periphery, as hereinafter described, attached to the shaft, soas to turn with it, and provided with one or more of what I call scoops, each preferably having a v similar vV-shaped periphery; and, second, what I call sediment-chambers, combined with the box so as to collect and retain the sediment of the oil, thereby keeping the latter pure and clean for use in the box.

A A is the box, cast, of any suitable. metal, in the form shown, or in'Y any other which is convenient and' proper.

B B isthe shaft, arranged and running in the box in the usual way.

C is the collar, or ring, placed around the shaft at about the middle o f-the length ofthe box, or at any other convenient point, and securely fastened to it,'so as to revolve-withit, by a set-screw, c, orother suitaple means.

The periphery of this collar I preferably make of the peculiar V, or inclined shape, shown at b b, figs. l and 3, and I provide it with one or more scoops, ,D D, of the form represented, or any other which will be suitable, and also preferably having the V, or inclined periphery, shown at c c. If desired, however, the periphery of both collar and scoops, o r of either of them, may be square, or of any preferred shap or section, or the collar around the shaft may be dispensed with, and the scoop or scoops may be secured directly to the shaft, or journal, either by being tapped into it with a l screw-thread, or by being fastened in any other conn venient manner.

I do not make any claim to sediment-chambers, broadly.

E is a recess, cast in the box, and forming the main oilchamber, which contains the lubricating-oil- The collar G runs in the oilin this recess, and as it revolves,'the scoops 1D I) take up a portion of such oil and carry it upward, and when they have madea partial revolntion,-pour it off upon the periphery of the body7 ofthe collar, and also spread it, to some extent, upon the shaft itself. The object and operation of the peculiar V-shape which I give to the periphery of this collar, and to the'scoops, are to cause the oil, as it is brought up by the scoops, to be quickly and evenly distributed upon the shaft.

The invention will, however, be successful, if the collar and scoops, or either of them, have a' straight, square surface, or a surface or periphery of any desired section. And, although I have shown them with peripheries having what may betermed a double V-shaped incline, it is not indispensable to give them this shape, as the inclinel may, if desired, be upon only one side of theperiphery. But the form shown in the drawing is obviously best in practice.

When the shaft is a quick-.running one, the scoops will, by centrifugal force, throw the oil out each way upon the bearings B B, lubricating them perfectly'.

If the shaft runs slowly, the oil will, by gravity, casily flow down the inclinedsides of the periphery of the collar, and distribute itself, with extreme evenness, upon the bearings.

Thus, no matter what may be the rate of speed at which the shaft revolves, whether faster or slower, my oiler is always sure to operate with certainty and uniformity.

In constructing my improved box, I usually prefer to cast a chamber, FF, in'each endof, the same, and to form, in the lower half of the box, channels G G, communicating with these chambers F F, and Vwith the main oil-chamber E, so that the oil, which has been brought up by the scoops, as it works each way along the shaft, mayrun down into the chambers F F, and back under the shaft, through the'channels G G, into the main chamber E, and be used over and over.

By reason of these provisions, no oil can ever work out at the ends of the box, and it is all fully utilized.

To prevent any of it from running out at the sides ofthe box, I generally employ channels d d, cast in the sides `or" the lower half of the box, but these may be dispensed with, if desired.

For the purpose of keeping the oil at all times clean, and free from sediment, and also for the purpose of ,making room in the hox for a larger quantity of it, I usually prefer to provide the lower half of the box with the sediment-chambers H H, which I prefer to cast under each end of the box, their tops being open, by small orifices c e, to the chambers F F, and' channels G G. As the oil passes around through these channels, it will deposit any sediment or dirt contained in it in the chambers H H, and, if desired, screws I I may be inserted in the lower end of these. last-men tioned chambers, in order to enable the oil to' be drawn out, and the box to be cleaned, as occasion may require.

Having thus described my improvements- What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Let,- ters Patent, is-

1. The combination with a shaft or bearing designed to run in a journal-box, of one or more scoops, of any desired shape or section, formed on the exteriorl of either a shaft, or of a collar thereon, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

2. The combination of one or more of the sedimentchambers H, with one or more of the longitudinal channels G, substantially as and for the purposes described.

RUFUS SIBLEY. Witnesses:

JNO. T. WAIT,

ALBERT S. BoLLEs. 

